STORRS -- On a recent morning, UConn freshmen watched as two students improvised their way through a skit, with one trying to pressure the other to go out for ice cream at the university's dairy bar.

"But I take all of the freshmen down to the dairy bar, so we can kind of understand each other," said Nitasha George, an older student, trying to cajole a reluctant freshman, Damini Chelladurai.

When Chelladurai turns her down and backs away, George, who plays a club president, persists. "I feel like I'm not seeing that commitment as much as I used to now because you just won't come with me," she says.

The students watching the presentation, called "Consent 201," knew the scenario wasn't just about ice cream in its portrayal of a student unwilling to take no for an answer -- the message addresses an urgent topic on college campuses: sexual assault and the effort to curb it.

The skit is "really meant to give students the tools to assess their interactions, making sure they understand that pressure and coercion is never OK in any given situation," said Lauren Donais, a program specialist with UConn's Women's Center.

Concern about sexual assault -- preventing it and how to provide help to those who have been raped or assaulted -- has swept college campuses in recent years with a wave of federal complaints and lawsuits filed by students.

Experts say that sexual assault on college campuses is a crime that is vastly underreported. According to one federal study, one in five women is a victim of a sexual assault or an attempted sexual assault while in college. From the White House to Congress to Connecticut's General Assembly, steps have been taken to reduce the problem and encourage victims to report sexual assault.

Like colleges and universities everywhere, UConn has expanded and strengthened its efforts to prevent sexual assault, with programs and training that occur throughout the school year.

"It's not just a lesson you learn at orientation," said Jenn Longa, as assistant dean at UConn, referring to the sexual assault prevention program. By having an ongoing program, Longa said, "You really start to understand it and you live it."

Laura Lockwood, director of Trinity College's Women and Gender Resource Action Center, said that the more educational and preventive programs a college has throughout the year, "the more students are exposed to it, the more they are talking about it. The less silence and the more buzz on the subject, the more confident and comfortable students feel in coming forward with disclosures."

With federal and state law requiring a more comprehensive approach to assault prevention, colleges and universities have stepped up, providing an array of educational opportunities for students, including theater, interactive activities, online presentations and quizzes, as well as discussions. The events can be for large or small groups, often including workshops geared specifically for an athletic team or a fraternity or sorority.

Antonio Farias, Wesleyan University's vice president for equity and inclusion, said that among many other programs last year, the university brought in a young man, a former athlete, to talk to members of the basketball team. "He was a male athlete they could bond with," Farias said. "He was somebody they could relate to."

The "scared straight" scolding approach doesn't work, Farias said. "We have more faith in real conversations. These are very smart young men."

In addition, colleges are bringing in national speakers and programs designed to raise awareness. The events scheduled at Trinity this fall are typical of many campuses. This month, the college brought in Jonathan Kalin, a recent graduate of Colby College, whose program, "Party With Consent," educates students on the definition of consent, the complications of alcohol, and how to ensure that relationships are consensual.

Trinity senior Whitney Gulden, who is a co-coordinator of a campus group called Students Encouraging Consensual Sex, said Kalins program helped to show students that "Consent can be sexy. Asking for something and then getting approval is the greatest thing. It really just gives you the certainty that that person wants what you want."

In some cases, colleges are developing their own preventive programs, while in others they are purchasing programs from outside vendors.

Sharyn J. Potter, co-director of the Prevention Innovations Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, said it is important for colleges to be certain they are using programs that are backed by evidence.

Potter said she expects to see more research done on the best ways to educate students about preventive strategies, but she said it's clear anecdotally that prevention education has to be given at additional times besides just orientation.

"If you remember back to when you were a first-year student, everything is flying at you," Potter said. "How do you get your meals? How do you live with someone for the first time? How do you figure out your courses? For campuses to throw in sexual assault prevention at that time -- it's not enough. So what we argue is that we are lucky enough to have these students for four or five years. We need to administer programs educating them about sexual assault through the years as they grow emotionally and cognitively."

Elizabeth Conklin, as associate vice president at UConn, said this is why the university provides presentations such as "Consent 201" that come up a little deeper into the semester for freshmen.

"Once they have settled in, they are starting to date and have those types of experiences on campus," she said. "I think they are better positioned to really hear and absorb and assimilate the messages."

Back in "Consent 201," student facilitators Nitasha George and Amber Dickey steer the students into a discussion of what it feels like when someone refuses to take no for an answer.

"We know of course that talking about ice cream isn't really the same thing as the pressure to go and have sex with somebody," Dickey said, but the facilitators explain that coercion is never OK in any situation.

And when it comes to sex, Dickey said, UConn has a very clear consent policy that requires that students have an "understandable exchange of affirmative words or action" that indicate a willingness to participate in a "mutually agreed upon sexual activity."

"If I wanted to kiss Nitasha, am I going to like face plant her?" Dickey asks.

The class answers no and Dickey tells them about the "90/10" guideline that came up in an old Will Smith movie.

Dickey said: "So you lean in 90 percent and if, you know, the person wants to kiss you, they'll lean in 10 percent ... That's consent because I initiated but she also responded."

And what do freshmen think about all the discussion on preventing sexual assault?

Like the other first year students, Chelladurai had a three-hour session on prevention strategies and sexual violence as well as alcohol and drugs at an orientation program in the spring. Then when she arrived on campus in August, she had more orientation on how to intervene as a bystander if it appears that another person is at risk, as well as discussions on these topics with her resident adviser.

Is it too much? "Personally I feel that it's not overkill because I think we all come from very different backgrounds," Chelladurai said, some with much more familiarity than others on prevention strategies.

"I think the more we talk about it the better, especially in the first few months," Chelladurai said, "but I think we can probably ease off in the second semester."

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